“The plan is we’re coming back,” she said. “We have to wait two years, but we will be back. It’s absolutely necessary.”

She thanked volunteers who supported the referendum, “who were “tremendous people with a great heart for kids.”

Hanover
asked for a construction tax vote to pay for a new intermediate school
as Cedar Lake’s population booms, with an influx coming from Illinois —
levying 56 cents per $100 assessed valuation over 20 years.

The
proposed school would have reorganized the district -- putting 3rd to
5th grade there -- just south of its middle school, 10631 W 141st Ave.

The vote also would have paid for a new roof at Lincoln Elementary and addition at the middle school and high school.

Outside
the American Legion on Tuesday, hairstylist Connie Martisek, 35, a
mother of two, said she supported Hanover’s referendum because she was
concerned about overcrowding.

“I don’t want it to be like Lake
Central -- kids housed in trailers,” she said. Without a new school
“we’re not going to have anywhere to put them.”

Businessman Vince
Romans said Hanover’s plan was not detailed enough to justify its full
cost. It had the option to come back later with another school tax pitch
to the community, he said.

“You’re putting a building it, but now you’ve got to house it,” he said. “Who is going to pay for the teachers?”